October 25, 2010

Coming On The Clouds... Is Figurative Language, Not Literal!

Many of my mainstream Christian friends think I'm nuts, when I tell them Jesus already came a 2nd time nearly 2,000 years ago. Understandably so when we have 100,000+ preachers and pastors teaching people that Jesus will "come on the clouds" and devastate the physical planet earth and all the other stuff that goes into that viewpoint.

I used to be real big into "last days" prophecy stuff myself and would post dozens of comments daily all over YouTube warning "sinners" that they had better repent quickly or they would miss the "rapture" and would be stuck here when God came to take revenge on all of humanity. Seems like such a long time ago, but really was just about 3 or so years ago. LOL

Here is an except about the "coming on the clouds" phrase that all serious truth seekers should check out, pray about and study deeper...

Symbol: CLOUD (in reference to God)

Interpretation: Power in the spiritual state.

Old Testament References:

ISAIAH 19:1 "An oracle concerning Egypt: see the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt."[NIV]

God did not arrive in Egypt in 572 B.C. in or on a literal cloud of the Earths sky. He came in the actions of attacking armies arrayed against Egypt. His personal presence was completely spiritual in nature, but was full of power none the less.

EZEKIEL 1:4 "I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north - an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light." [NIV]

This is the same vision we examined in the section on four living creatures" above, and this part of the symbolic representation of God shows him as an immense CLOUD full of power and light (which is knowledge). This was not a literal cloud of the sky, but represented the spiritual nature of God in a symbol.

New Testament References:

MATTHEW 24:30 "and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

These were the "tribes of the earth," the Jews who saw the power of God manifested in the attacking Roman armies. Christ did not come in the clouds of earth, but the clouds of heaven. His coming was spiritual in nature.

REVELATION 1:7 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."

The kindreds (literally, the tribes) of the earth were the Jewish nation, who would wail or mourn because of the destructions brought on them by God. They would see Christ coming in or with CLOUDS, not in the literal sky, but in the spiritual state through the actions of the Roman army.

What or how you believe doesn't matter much to me personally, as that is between you and God... but if you are a serious truth seeker and not just a sheeple of popular Christianity, then these are things you will want to study and pray about.